Hosea (Come Back To Me)

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Day Twenty-Three

The season of Lent provides us a special opportunity to understand the heart of God for his wandering children in a richer and deeper way. Spending an intentional 40 days thinking about the cross of Christ and the depth of his sacrifice reminds us just how loved we are, because we see what lengths God went to in order to draw us back to himself.

It’s a common misconception to think that this picture of God’s heart, with all of its tenderness and longing for a wayward people, is a uniquely New Testament image. It is not. It is the same heart that we find yearning for the return of his people Israel, prone to wander off in hopeless pursuit of idols despite all God had done for them.

Nowhere is this more powerfully demonstrated than in the story of the prophet Hosea. Called by God to speak out against the nation’s idolatry, Hosea is also called to live out a very striking image of God’s love and Israel’s unfaithfulness in his marriage to a woman named Gomer. Her adultery and Hosea’s faithful attempts to bring her out of her sin both provide a living parable of our relationship with God. Just as Gomer is prone to return to her life of prostitution, so we are also prone to sell ourselves to false idols and godless pursuits…and yet God does not give up on us. Time again, just as Hosea with Gomer, God comes to us in our sin and our unrighteousness and calls us back to himself.

In Hosea 3, Gomer has been sold into servitude, but God calls Hosea to redeem her. With 15 shekels of silver and 5 bushels of barley, Hosea pays the price of her enslavement and brings her home. This is a picture for us of God’s eventual redemption through Christ, who paid the price of our enslavement with his own precious blood. That is how much we are loved.

The anger of God towards sin and idolatry is evident in the book of Hosea, but his anger towards sin is countered by an even more powerful love for his people. In Hosea 11, God says this to his people:

“‘Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
and my compassion overflows.
No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.
I will not completely destroy Israel,
for I am God and not a mere mortal.
I am the Holy One living among you,
and I will not come to destroy.
For someday the people will follow me.
I, the Lord, will roar like a lion.
And when I roar,
my people will return trembling from the west.
Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again,’
says the Lord.”—Hosea 11:8-11 (NLT)

These are the words God would speak to your heart and mine: “How can I give you up? How can I let you go?” No matter how often we wander into sin and idolatrous behavior, God stands ready to forgive. His love his constant. He has paid the price for our redemption, and calls us back to his heart.

How will we respond?

Come back to me with all your heart
Don’t let fear keep us apart.
Trees do bend though straight and tall,
So must we to others’ call.
Long have I waited for your coming
Home to me and living deeply our new life.

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Provided to YouTube by CDBabyHosea · Steve BellSons and Daughters℗ 2004 Signpost MusicReleased on: 2004-01-01Auto-generated by YouTube.

Questions for Reflection

1) What has this Lenten journey been teaching you about the heart of God? Are there areas in your life where you’ve wandered, and where he is calling you back to himself? Spend some time in prayer confessing your sin and receiving anew the love that calls out to you even in the midst of it.

2) One author called the book of Hosea a glimpse into “The Incredible Scandal of God’s Perfect Love.” How do you respond to the idea that God’s love is “scandalous?” How might God be calling you to embrace that way of looking at his love?

3) Have you ever been tempted to think that God has given up on you? What is helpful for you in resisting that urge? How can you immerse yourself even more deeply in the truth that he is always ready to welcome us back from our wanderings?

4) The song for today includes these words:

The wilderness will lead you.
To your heart where I will speak.
Integrity and justice with tenderness
You shall know.

How do our wilderness experiences lead us to a place where God speaks? How have you experienced that in your own life?

5) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love”—John 15:19 (ESV)

You Keep Hope Alive

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Click here for information about our special Sunday playlist on Spotify.

Fourth Sunday

In 2018 the Rubin Museum in New York City opened an exhibition entitled “A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful,” a participatory art installation that invited visitors to anonymously write down their anxieties and hopes on vellum cards and then display them on a large wall. Guests would then have a chance to read and reflect on our shared fears and aspirations, engaging in a communal act of emotional solidarity. Over 50,000 cards were submitted over the course of the exhibition, with wide-ranging themes that covered the personal, the political, and the spiritual. The creators of the exhibition had this to say about the thoughts they hoped to inspire:

“By definition, anxiety and hope are determined by a moment that has yet to arrive—but how often do we pause to fully consider our relationship with the future?”

—Candy Chang and James A. Reeves, “A Moment for the Anxious and Hopeful”

For those who have put their faith in Christ, that statement is only half-true. Anxiety is definitely rooted in “a moment that has yet to arrive,” because anxiety is about the fear of something that may yet happen. Anxiety imagines a scenario and lets it play out to its worst possible conclusion, then prompts us to react as if that conclusion has already taken place. Anxiety steals from a potential future and pulls us down in the present. Anxiety looks ahead and is afraid of what it may find.

In a secular definition, hope, like anxiety, also looks to the future. The only difference is that hope is about imagining a positive outcome rather than a negative one. Hope looks ahead and feels good about what it may find. But in both cases, the ultimate resolution is uncertain. In both cases, we are looking to the future and wondering what will take place.

Biblical hope is different. Before it looks ahead, biblical hope first finds its foundation in something that has already taken place—the resurrection of Christ. We don’t rest our hope on some imagined outcome that may or may not be assured, we rest our hope on the sure and certain truth that Jesus Christ, who was crucified, is alive. The tomb is empty, and the powers of sin and death have been defeated. That is where we find our hope!

The Apostle Paul addresses this truth in 1 Corinthians 15, when he writes:

“If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.”—1 Corinthians 15:17-22

Paul points out an important distinction between hope from an earthly perspective and hope from a spiritual perspective—in Christ, our hope looks beyond this world, beyond its temporary cares and concerns. Our hope deals in eternal truths, truths that allow us to rest in the knowledge that our sins are forgiven and our future is secure. The resurrection of Jesus is a “down payment” that gives us an assurance which no earthly hope can even come close to providing.

To put it succinctly: we don’t find our hope in the possibility that something good may yet happen…we find our hope in the fact that the very best thing has already taken place.

The past couple of years have been a time when many of us have struggled to keep hope alive. The good news of Sunday, the message of these “mini-Easters,” is that hope is already alive. The forces of death conspired against it, but hope is alive. The grave tried to silence it, but hope is alive. And there are still voices today that will tell you it’s no longer real, but those voices are lying. Hope is most definitely alive.

There's hope in the morning
Hope in the evening
Hope because you're living
Hope because you're breathing
There's hope in the breaking
Hope in the sorrow
Hope for this moment
My hope for tomorrow

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) Do you give in easily to the temptation to think that hope is about things that might yet happen? How might you find ways to ground your hope in what has already taken place on your behalf in the cross and the empty tomb?

2) How does the knowledge that Jesus is alive inspire hope in you? When has that knowledge been most real to you?

3) Theologian J.I. Packer made this distinction between optimism and biblical hope. Spend some time reading and reflecting on his words:

“Optimism is a wish without warrant; Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of his life, and every moment beyond it, the believer can say with truth, on the basis of God’s own commitment, that the best is yet to come.”—J.I. Packer

4) Today’s song talks about:

—hope in dark days
—hope in the midst of rising evil
—hope in sorrow
—hope in “the breaking.”

How has God ministered hope to you in your own experience of these? Spend some time in praise and thanksgiving for his presence and hope in difficult times.

5) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”—Romans 15:13 (NIV)

Not What My Hands Have Done

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Day Twenty-Two

At one time or another, most Christians have probably experienced a disturbing shift during a season of intentional spiritual pursuit, such as reading through the Bible in a year, or taking a Lenten prayer journey, a shift that changes the nature of what we’re doing and the reason we’re doing it.

In short, what was meant to be “devotion” becomes “work.” What began with an earnest and heartfelt desire to draw closer to God becomes less about communion and more about obligation. When that happens during Lent, the shift can turn us around and push us in the opposite direction from where we started. Instead of heading to the cross, with its powerful reminder of what Christ has done for us, we turn away and start focusing on the things we’re doing for him. We act as though the “success” of our journey depends on our performance, and when that belief takes over we find ourselves drifting off the path, walking away from from Jerusalem instead of towards it.

There is only one perfect antidote for our wandering hearts when this happens: we stop whatever it is we’re doing and spend some time gazing upon the cross of Christ. Only in being reminded of Christ’s work can we find what we need to stop focusing on ours.

Today we’re going to do just that, by allowing a wonderful, yet little-known, hymn of the cross serve as our invitation to remember that this journey is not about our work or our worthiness. It is about Christ’s work and his worthiness alone. After listening to the hymn you are invited to sit with each verse prayerfully, allowing the words to become your own prayer of re-centering.

This particular recording features one instrumental verse before the vocals begin, and you’re invited during that time to be still, breathe deep, and begin in a spirit of prayer. Focus on the cross, whether with your eyes or with your heart, and know that the one who traveled to that cross willingly is more than able to turn us around when we’ve strayed from the path.

No other work, save thine,
no other blood will do;
no strength, save that which is divine,
can bear me safely through.

You can find the rest of the words in the prayer exercise below.

Prayerful Reflection

Read each verse slowly and prayerfully, perhaps even reading them out loud. Read each verse more than once, allowing these words written so long ago to become a prayer you offer from your own heart today.

Not what my hands have done
can save my guilty soul;
not what my toiling flesh has borne
can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
can give me peace with God;
not all my prayers and sighs and tears
can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ,
can ease this weight of sin;
thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
not mine, O Lord, to thee,
can rid me of this dark unrest,
and set my spirit free.

I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
and with unfalt'ring lip and heart,
I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt;
I bury in his tomb
each thought of unbelief and fear,
each ling'ring shade of gloom.

I praise the God of grace;
I trust his truth and might;
he calls me his, I call him mine,
my God, my joy, my light.
'Tis he who saveth me,
and freely pardon gives;
I love because he loveth me,
I live because he lives.

For a closing prayer, read and reflect on this verse.
Let it lead you into heartfelt worship and gratitude:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”—Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

With Great Gentleness

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Day Twenty-One

When we enter the season of Lent, with so much of our focus on repentance as we meditate on the cross, it is important that we do not let our image of God go askew. This 40-day journey is not meant to inspire fear of judgment or cause us to withdraw from an image of God as an angry and vengeful deity, one who is eager to catch us in our sin and make us feel despised. That is not what Lent is about. Lent is always about God’s love, mercy, and grace shown supremely in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Yet there are many who struggle with that false image of God, and not just during Lent. Sometimes when we are face-to-face with the sin in our lives, immersed in the shame of feeling that we have disappointed or even angered God, it can cause us to withdraw. Like a child who is afraid of being punished, we lie about what we’ve done—to others, to ourselves, and we even may think we’ve gotten away with lying about it to God. And as that shame festers in our souls it becomes toxic, which can then further distort our image of God. It whispers horrible lies to us, saying, “You can’t go to God with this. You’ve disappointed him too many times. He has given up on you.” As our image of God becomes distorted, we can grow even more afraid of coming to him openly and honestly. It is a vicious downward spiral, feeding on itself in a frenzy of self-hatred and fear.

In Paul’s letter to Titus there is a wonderful passage that can help ground us if we’re falling into that cycle, where he writes:

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”—Titus 3:4-7

When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us…

The salvation of God is rooted in kindness and love, because God is love. Even as he hung on the cross, Jesus asked God to forgive those who had tortured him and put him there. If there was ever a picture of the “tender mercy” of God, you’ll find it there. It is the same tender mercy that David leaned on when confronted with his own fall into sin, lies, and deceit:

“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.”—Psalm 51:1-2

As you travel to Jerusalem with Jesus, be sure to follow his heart as well as his footsteps, for his heart is filled with love for you. As one anonymous 19th century preacher put it, he is “the fountain of all gentleness, all kindness, and all good.”

All gentleness…all kindness…all good…this is the one who invites you to walk with him.

Come to Jesus, He will never cast you out
Come you thirsty, put aside your fear, your doubt
With great gentleness, with great gentleness
He draws you, how He draws you,
See how He draws you to Himself

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) Have you ever had to wrestle with a distorted image of God? What was at the root of that distortion? Spend some time in prayer asking God to clear away any image you have that is not true to who he is.

2) Are there specific Scriptures or practices that you lean on to be reminded of the kindness and love of God? What in your life helps you counter the voices that would whisper lies to you soul?

3) The Hebrew word “chesed” occurs over 200 times in the Old Testament. It is a very rich word with deep meaning that is difficult to capture in English, and has been represented by words and phrases like:

lovingkindness
steadfast love
goodness
favor
mercy
loyalty
devotion
covenant love

Which of these definitions of “chesed” resonates most with you? Why?

4) The song for today includes is built around an invitation:

Come to Jesus, He will never cast you out
Come you thirsty, put aside your fear, your doubt
With great gentleness, with great gentleness
He draws you, how He draws you,
See how He draws you to Himself

How have you experienced Jesus drawing you to himself? Spend some time in prayer offering your “yes” to his invitation to draw even deeper into his lovingkindness and covenant love.

5) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
‘I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’”—Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

Rescue

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Day Twenty

There are a lot different ways we can describe the story of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem: it’s the account of Jesus’ final days, the story of God’s great love and Christ’s great sacrifice, the Passion narrative, the Atonement, Holy Week…there are lots of terms and words available to us. But there is one phrase that is rarely used and yet maybe most effective:

It’s a rescue story.

We love a good rescue story, with its heroes and villains, accounts of peril and escape, and the sense of relief that comes when those who were trapped are brought to freedom. We love it in movies and TV shows, and we love it in real life as well. From news stories about young children trapped in wells to live coverage of miners trapped underground for weeks on end…tales of rescue have the power to draw us in.

The Bible is filled with tales of rescue—from the deliverance of armies in battle, to Hebrew spies hidden from an angry mob in Jericho, to Paul’s bold declaration that the threat of shipwreck wouldn’t cause any loss of life, and more. And of course, the central narrative in the history of Israel is the Exodus, God’s rescue of the Hebrew slaves from bondage in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, an event that still sits at the heart of the Jewish faith today.

That image of the Exodus is an important one for those who follow Jesus, who also came to lead people out of bondage. In the New Testament there are clear parallels drawn between the ministry of Jesus and that of Moses, especially in Matthew’s gospel. Writing to a primarily Jewish audience, Matthew is very intentional about painting the picture of Jesus as a “new Moses,” and some of the comparisons are striking:

  • Jesus is rescued as an infant from the slaughter of innocent children, as Moses was saved from Pharaoh’s wrath

  • Jesus fasts for 40 days in the wilderness, echoing Moses on Mt. Sinai

  • Jesus delivers his “new law” from the side of a mountain, calling to mind how Moses received the law of God on a mountaintop

  • Jesus’ identity as a teacher, a prophet, and a lawgiver throughout is a direct parallel to the leadership and ministry of Moses

  • At the Transfiguration (where he meets with Moses himself) Jesus is transformed in a way similar to Moses when he encountered God on the mountain

And as striking as these are, they are minor compared to the biggest parallel of all: Just as Moses led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, now Jesus has come to lead us out of slavery to sin. This theme resonates throughout the entire New Testament, as Jesus is shown to be the mediator of a new covenant of grace, freeing us from bondage to the powers of sin and death. Paul states this powerfully in Romans:

“And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”—Romans 8:2-4 (NLT)

This is why Jesus came to earth. It’s what this season of Lent is all about: it is a reminder of the price that has been paid for our freedom. He came to secure our deliverance. In fact, Jesus made that very clear in his very own words:

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”—Luke 19:10

That is a rescue story worth telling…again and again.

I need You Jesus to come to my rescue
Where else can I go?
There's no other name by which I am saved
Capture me with grace, I will follow You

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How have you known Jesus as one who rescues? In what ways has that image of Jesus been most evident to you as you have walked with him? Spend some time in prayer simply resting in the knowledge that he gave his life to set you free.

2) The ancient Hebrews often retold the story of their freedom as a prompt for worship (e.g. Psalm 136). How does the story of your freedom in Jesus inspire worship for you? What are ways you can build steady and regular reminders of that story into your daily walk?

3) Are there ways in which you experience bondage in your life? Are there sins that still seek to control you and hold you captive? Bring them openly and honestly to God, and let the saving power of Jesus be made real in those areas of your life as you surrender more deeply to him. Ask him to show you the depth of freedom he desires you to know.

4) What does the lyric “capture me with grace” communicate about the nature of our freedom in Christ? What do you think the songwriter meant by those words, and how do they speak to you?

5) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”—Luke 4:18-19 (CEB, also Isaiah 61:1-2)

The Pastoral Symphony

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Day Nineteen

Today’s guest post by Amy Nemecek invites us into a different way of sitting prayerfully with a piece of music. What is frequently disregarded as an instrumental interlude becomes an opportunity for Scripture meditation and imaginative prayer. There are no reflection questions at the end, as you are invited into prayer as you listen and read.


“He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.”—Isaiah 40:11


Most people associate Handel’s Messiah with the Christmas season, not the season of Lent. And yes, the Pastoral Symphony technically falls within part 1, aka the Christmas portion of the oratorio, as an instrumental interlude to set the scene for the shepherds abiding in the fields of Bethlehem. The title itself—Pastoral Symphony—evokes the image of shepherds watching their flocks by night.

I can’t hear this piece of music without thinking of Isaiah 40:11, which looks ahead to God’s promised Shepherd for his people. The words of that prophecy are the basis for a later aria from Messiah, “He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd,” and the melody of the Pastoral Symphony foreshadows that song. The two pieces are linked through a common time signature and tempo markings and are written in complementary keys,

Handel composed the Pastoral Symphony for strings only. It is tender in its simplicity, but because it lacks the vocal grandeur of the rest of Messiah, listeners often overlook it as mere incidental music. But today I’d like you to try a spiritual practice of listening to it with the ears of your soul. Close your eyes and remove any distractions so that you can listen reflectively.

Pay attention to how the music’s simple A-B-A structure and the textures of the melody follow the movements of Psalm 23. Meditate on the words of “the Shepherd’s Psalm” as you let the music indwell you with thoughts of Jesus, our Good Shepherd.

A (vv. 1-3)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.

 

The simplicity of the music is enough, sufficient for your soul’s needs. Follow the Good Shepherd  through the movement of the notes as he guides you up and down rolling hills. Can you feel the Shepherd’s sure footsteps in the lower registers through the steady hum of the cellos? You arrive in a pleasant meadow to graze—the texture of the music’s line echoes the greenness of the grass. Do you hear the quiet trickle of a stream in the little trills of the violins?

 

B (vv. 4-5a)

Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.

 

The bass line ascends through a key change before the tone of the music dims the melody into a minor mode. The path ahead grows dark as you descend into a valley. The downward movement you hear in the cellos is the bear and the lion prowling in the shadows, and the sheep are afraid. But then the steady harmony of the violas casts a warm light that pushes back the darkness in a confident circle. The Shepherd has built a campfire; he will keep watch through the night, and you are safe. The violins swell, then diminish as the flock settles safely under his protection.

 

A (vv. 5b-6)

You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

 

Once again the cellos provide steady footsteps back to the opening theme in the violins. As the orchestra quietly continues, feel the Shepherd’s healing oil on your head, hear the trills trickling into your hair and soothing the cuts and bruises the world has inflicted on you this week. The music get softer, quieter, to the final, restful resolution and the cutoff.

Feel the memory of the strings’ vibration in the stillness. Remain silent for a few moments, allowing the sound of the Shepherd’s goodness and mercy to press around you and push out the clamor of the world’s noise.

 

In closing, pray these words drawn from the words of Jesus in John 10:11-15.

Jesus, our Good Shepherd. This world is filled with hired hands who are paid to tend your flock. But hired hands are not you. Hired hands don’t own the sheep, haven’t bought them with their very blood, so they won’t risk their own lives to protect the flock. When they spot a wolf prowling at the edges of the pasture and see your sheep becoming frightened, they abandon us and run away to save themselves. But Jesus . . . you know us. Help us to know you, too, just as Abba Father knows you and you know him. Thank you, dear Shepherd of our souls, that you have laid down your own life for us, your sheep. May we be ever grateful, and as the cups of our lives overflow with your goodness and mercy, use us to draw others into your sheepfold. Amen. 

I Want To Know You More

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Day Eighteen

We offer many prayers during Lent. Prayers of confession, prayers of repentance, prayers of commitment and submission…these 40 days are a time of deep communion with God as we pour out our hearts to him and seek to be more conformed to the image of Jesus. We spend much of this journey to Jerusalem on our knees, crying out to God in faithful trust that he listens…and answers.

It is very unlikely that there is any one prayer God desires to hear from us more than another, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there is one simple prayer that brings a special smile to his face, and it’s this one:

Lord, I want to know you more.

The heart of Jesus’ ministry is relationship: he came to reconcile us to the God who created us to be in relationship with himself. If you have ever found yourself longing for a relationship with someone you love dearly who has wandered far and doesn’t return that longing, then you have a small inkling of what was in the heart of God as he sent Jesus to earth. And as Jesus goes to the cross, it is that desire that carries him through the pain and suffering: he knows that what he is going through will enable the relationship that human beings were created for to be realized anew.

And yet so many of us who claim to be in that relationship are prone to treat it casually at times, causing it to languish and stagnate. We can take it for granted, and when we do, we lose sight of God’s call further and farther into his love, into a deeper and more intimate fellowship that knows no limit.

The Lenten journey provides a counter to our casual leanings: as we meditate on the cost of our reconciliation we are exposed in all the ways we fail to pursue our relationship with Jesus with passion and fervor. This doesn’t happen to shame us or to tell us we aren’t doing enough. That is not what God is saying when we’re convicted of our own spiritual stagnation. What he is saying is, “I was willing to go through this for you; that is how precious you are to me. That is how much I desire to be in a relationship with you. I love you with an everlasting love and will go to any length to draw you to myself. The way has been made, the work is already done. Will you, in turn, draw near?” Paul describes this deep and abiding love of God so powerfully in Romans:

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”—Romans 5:8 (ESV)

The invitation that comes to us is to know the heart of the psalmist:

“As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so I long for you, God.
I thirst for God, the living God.”—Psalm 42:1-2 (CSB)

The beauty of this call is that it doesn’t require psalmist-level poetry on our part. Six simple words are all that are needed:

I want to know you more.

And this is one prayer we can know without a doubt that God will honor and answer, because answering this prayer is his absolute delight. As James reminds us:

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”—James 4:8 (ESV)

And if that’s not where we are right now, that’s okay. In fact, that’s kind of the point. The kind of passion we see in Psalm 42 isn’t something we can just stir up within ourselves. It only comes as we drop all pretense and simply be honest with God. Maybe in that honesty we add a couple of words to our prayer:

I want to want to know you more.

Again, that’s a prayer God is more than pleased to answer. It’s a handing over of our hardened hearts to the work of the Spirit, and Lent is a powerful season to take that step. The cure for our spiritual stagnation is to stop pretending it isn’t there and begin to hear anew God’s invitation to intimacy, because the truth is that he wants us to know him more.

I want to know your voice when you are calling
I want to feel your touch in my despair
I want to know you'll catch me when I'm falling
Just to know you are there

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) Can you remember the first, or a significant, moment when you realized that God desired to be in relationship with you? That he delighted in it? If that is a truth that you’re still seeking to know in your life, ask God to reveal to you in a new way the depths of his love for you.

2) How have you navigated times of spiritual stagnation in your walk with Jesus? When your passion for God seems to be in decline, are there specific prayers or practices you find helpful to keep yourself centered? If not, how might you ask God to be near to you during those times?

3) The song for today includes these words:

I want to know your voice when you are calling
I want to feel your touch in my despair
I want to know you'll catch me when I'm falling
Just to know you are there

Which of these resonates most with your spiritual journey right now—do you need a sense of God’s voice? His tender touch? His saving arms? Or maybe just to know he’s there? Offer to God the deepest cries of your heart and rest in the knowledge that he desires to meet you there.

4) Many people build intentional moments into their day to reconnect with Jesus: times of prayer, of worship, of silence, of Scripture reading. What might you build into your day to express your desire to know him and be rooted in your relationship with him?

Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”—John 14:23 (NLT)